The Hunt For Bucky Barnes
by Valkyrieswanshieldmaiden
Summary: An immortal assassin who had never failed a mission. And wasn't about to now. A mortal former assasin who had only ever failed one mission. But had gotten out. She was trying to kill him. Or, so she kept telling herself. He was trying to stay alive. And help a friend out. Songs will be sung about this! Let the fun begin!
1. Chapter 1

The Hunt For Bucky Barnes

Kiana the Brave (Or Soft-Hearted, as her sisters teasingly called her. Kiana hated this monicker, even if it was in teasing. It was terrible for a Valkyrie, but not only was it true, her sisters had a wicked sense of humor. Come to think about it, so did she.) silently snuck up behind the man, sword drawn. How he got his arm stuck into the vise, she didn't know, nor cared. It just made the kill easier.

Nix the Ever-Knowing, the Valkyrie soothsayer, had sent her here on this kill mission.

Since Valkyrie loved to hunt vampires, all in a day's work.

Just as she brought her sword up and, though she didn't make a sound, he must have somehow sensed her and lifted his head. His hair was long and dark and fell around a handsome face that had just enough stubble to be devastatingly sexy.

But it was the look in his beautiful blue eyes that stayed her hand even before he spoke.

"Go ahead. Do it." he said calmly.

Kiana, who never hesitated over a kill, though she was teased unmercifully by other Valkyrie for her too kind nature, was momentarily taken aback.

Kiana's sisters didn't call her Soft-Hearted for nothing. Any street urchin or poor beggar she passed immediately earned her undying sympathy.

Not to mention her money.

And her sisters threatened to invite the vampires for a feast of Kiana if she brought home one more stray animal.

She could just hear them now, ragging her for crumbling under a pair of sad blue eyes. Eyes that were also, unexpectedly, kind, but lost and sad. Though she had been dispatched here to kill him, she sensed an innate goodness in him.

"You WANT to die, creature?" she asked, knowing he was OTHER, wasn't a creature of the Lore but wasn't quite human, either.

Strange things had been happening, men in steel suites, preternaturally strong men, gods coming to the earth. For the Valkyrie to stand up and take notice of this was something, indeed. Then again, strange things happened during an Accession.

She had seen his metal arm and had concluded that he was what the Valkyrie currently called semi-immortals. After all, most had immortal like powers and some aged VERY slowly. The jury was still out on whether they would be accepted into the Lore. After all, most used to be human and the Lore was kept under wraps from humans as much as possible.

The Valkyrie weren't optimistic about their chances.

"I've done terrible things." this one told her now.

"Like what?" she heard herself asking.

"Kill people." he confessed. "Almost killed my best friend. Though I didn't. .." he trailed off.

A thought occurred to Kiana.

"That's why you trapped yourself here, wasn't it? So you won't hurt anyone." she said, knowing she was right and, with a crash of thunder, though the sky was cloudless, her heart just...melted.

Valkyrie received fuel from the electrical energy of the earth and gave it back in the form of lightning when they felt strong emotion.

Valhall, where she lived with her sisters, was a creepy Victorian structure surrounded by lightning poles and scorched oaks.

Shaken, refusing to admit she felt anything for her PREY, of all things, she focused her attention back to him.

He didn't answer, just stared at her.

This was answer enough.

Then he gave her a look and looked her up and down as if really seeing her for the first time.

Kiana was dressed to kill.

Litterally.

As she always did, she wore a tight tee, a mini skirt, and knee high, sexy boots. She had raided Nix's closet and her t-shirt said 'I Play With My Prey'.

Valkyrie loved to shop, buying pricey clothes extravagantly. Most had lived for centuries and each coven received a stipend from their investments. Each cut was usually very generous.

Contrary to legend, Valkyrie were not tall, Amazon like women. Rather, they were all petite, tiny fey-looking women who could bench press Buicks, were lightning quick and wicked smart.

They also had pointed ears, slight fangs and elegant claws.

Not to mention they were the daughters of gods.

Odin and Freya to be precise.

This thought reminded her that she had a job here and it wasn't to be chatting up the prey.

Despite this, unable to help herself, she looked down at his chest, muscles defined but not heavy, more like a big cat's, smooth and sexy, rippled under his red shirt. The muscles in his legs were well defined and mouthwatering, as well.

Then Kiana looked up and caught him raising a brow.

Caught ogling the prey!

How humiliating!

"What are you?" he asked.

"Pussy Cat Doll?" she answered.

At his confused look, she said "No?"

Suddenly, her ear twiched.

Then she heard it. Scuffling feet outside.

"Someone comes." she whispered.

Then she found herself standing between him and the door, sword ready, legs spread in a fighting stance.

What was she doing?

Guarding the prey?

Before she could consider this, though, two figures appeared from different doors.

Immediately, she recognized the taller one.

"Well, if it isn't Miss America." she said, using the term she and her sisters used for him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Your worst nightmare?" she asked, only half joking, left eyebrow lifted.

"Damn, Cap, wherever your friend got her, I want one." said the guy with him.

Kiana hissed.

"You wish, mortal."

"She came to kill me." said the man behind her.

"He didn't seem to mind." she told them.

"And are you still going to?" he asked.

"Duh. That's what I came here to do." she said flippantly, though she might have felt she was lying.

"I'm sorry. I can't allow that."

"Such a gentleman." she said with a smirk right before attacking.

A girl had to attack before she was attacked.

The Captain immediately went on the defensive while the other guy tried to grab ahold of her.

She put him through the wall.

"Buck. Do you remember me?" the Captain asked.

This tripped a memory, but she was too busy trying to find a place around his shield to follow it.

"Your Mom's name is Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." he answered, sounding distressed and maybe as if he were straining himself.

Just then, Kiana got a punch in and put the Captain into the ceiling.

There was the sound of grinding metal and she turned to make sure her prey wasn't escaping.

Just as a metal arm wrapped around her waist.

She struggled.

He held out his other hand.

She froze.

A huge diamond, flawless, sparkled in his hand.

She snatched it.

Bucky stared at the unbelievably gorgeous woman he held. She was still now and seemed to be in a trance as she stared at the diamond in her hand. Her red and gold curls were draped over his metal arm, looking unbelievably soft, her lovely green eyes sparkling.

"What the hell IS she?" asked the man with his best friend Steve, both crawling up off the floor.

Bucky, staring at her as much as she stared at the stone, answered honestly, "I don't know. She wouldn't tell me. Some kind of assassin. She said something about a pussy cat doll."

For some reason, the other guy snorted.

"So pretty." she breathed.

"Not unlike you." he thought, gently taking the sword out of her hand.

It was light and extremely sharp. Made for quick kills and not battle.

"How did you know to show her the diamond, Buck?" Steve asked, drawing near.

"A woman approached me. Said if I wanted to stop the woman that comes after me, to show her the diamond she gave me." he explained.

"Guess it worked. Though I wouldn't mind this one coming after me." said the other man.

Bucky tightened his hold on her.

Not only was she beyond beautiful, but her small form had curves in all the right places. Not only that, but she had looked at him like, well, like Steve looked at him, like she saw the decent, good man he was and not the monster they had made him.

"We don't have time for this. Bucky, people are coming for you and they don't mean to take you alive." he told him.

"We can't leave her here like this." he said.

He hadn't missed the fact that, though she claimed to be here to kill him, not only hadn't she, but she had stood between him and possible danger.

It was his turn.

"He's right." the other man said.

"We'll cover you while you run out the back." Steve told him. "Take her with you."

And that's when the lights went out.

Kiana blinked.

Feeling like she was coming out of a dream, she looked around.

Valkyrie could see perfectly fine in the dark and without the light to sparkle in the diamond, bye bye trance.

Valkyrie had few weaknesses but had inherited Freya's acquisitiveness and, without intensive training, were easily entranced by what they called shiny. These were things like precious stones and gems.

So finding her prey with his metal arm now wrapped around her waist infuriated her. Valkyrie were the ones who got the drop on their prey. Not the other way around.

"How dare you touch me! I am a daughter of gods!" she yelled, wrenching his arm away and, at the same time bringing her elbow up to his face in a hard hit. She then turned and punched out at him, at the last minute deciding not to break his sternum.

He crashed into the machine.

She dropped the diamond in her boot (She wasn't stupid.) and, grabbing her sword, crouched down for attack

That's when the lights came back on.

Then she was battling his friends.

And winning, of course.

Valkyrie liked to fight.

It was fun.

Suddenly, her ear twitched.

"Mortals." she sniffed.

They were coming.

Lots of them.

AND she smelled gunpowder.

They meant business, then.

"Get out of here, Bucky!" the Captain yelled as he took a blow that would have had a regular mortal in a coma, to say the least.

"No. I'm not leaving you." he said, joining the fight, but seemed more intent on trying to stop her than anything, taking care not to actually hit her, but trying to grab her, deflecting her blows.

She, on the other hand, tried to swipe at him as much as she could.

Or did she?

Did she just deliberately miss?

"Such loyalty among friends." she said, but found she meant it.

Suddenly, there were the sound of bullets.

Very close.

Like, at the door!

She froze on a hiss.

How dare they interrupt her hunting!

"Crap! We gotta move!" one of them said.

She turned just in time to see her prey leap out the window.

She ran and jumped to stand on the railing, unconcerned with the battle between the mortals behind her. Bullets were useless against Valkyrie. If one of them did draw a gun on her, she would think they were trying to tickle her.

He had disappeared.

Silly Valkyrie.

Letting the prey get away.

And, she suspected, though she would never admit it, it might have been accidentally-on-purpose.

Now she remembered who he was. She should have realized when she saw his metal arm. He was the Winter Soldier. A ghost story. He was so efficient and skilled at hunting and dispatching his prey that she and her sisters had read everything they could about him, fawning over him like teenagers over Justin Bieber, speculating over what it would be like to go toe to toe against him.

Kiana now knew.

And she liked it.

Her ear twitched and there was the sound of a motorcycle.

She stepped off the railing, landing on the street far below as if she had only stepped off the sidewalk, heading toward the sound.

She primped her hair.

The hunt wasn't over.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Kiana started running.

Though her prey was fast, supernaturally so, even, Valkyrie were just as fast and she wasn't far behind him.

So fast was he that he was keeping up with cars speeding down the freeway, even climbing on top of them if they weren't going fast enough.

Two could play at this game, she thought, increasing her speed and leaping over a car. Just then she saw the dark figure ahead of her drop down.

Another tunnel of cars, she saw, reaching the edge.

He dodged the cars that almost caught him and, just as she tensed to tackle him, he did a move even she in her long life had never seen.

Knocking the motorcyclist off his bike, he spun it around, turning with it, and jumped onto it, all in one glorious move.

Then he was gone

"That was so hot!" she breathed.

Before remembering where and what she was and that she REALLY shouldn't be thinking such things.

Not about her prey, anyway.

Even if he was hot. And innately good. And was the Winter Soldier.

"No, it is not hot, Kiana!" she chided hereself, dropping down to the next level and sprinting in the direction he had gone, catching sight of him ahead. "Not. At. All."

"It was TOTALLY hot and you know it." her inner voice whispered.

"Not listening!", she told it, keeping her eye on the figure just ahead now as she dodged cars and leaped over them.

Suddenly, there was a dark figure beside her.

This was what she got for thinking hot thoughts about her prey, not to mention arguing with herself.

Silly Valkyrie.

And he was keeping pace with her?

Had to be another immortal.

And after her prey!

She turned and gave him a warning hiss.

He hissed back at her.

Then he was sprinting ahead of her.

She increased her speed.

This Winter Soldier was HER prey, damn it!

Before she could catch up to him, and she totally could, both gaining on the motorcycle, he tried jumping her prey. He saw him and managed to fend him off. Then there was the scrape of metal on pavement as the motorcycle tilted precariously as he steadied it with his metal arm, but her prey managed to right it again a second later and was speeding along the freeway.

This really pissed her off and tackling the panther shape-shifter seemed like a bingo idea.

So, with a shriek that could shatter glass, that's what she did.

They both went rolling.

But she came up on top.

"I have no quarel with you, Valkyrie." he said in his accented voice as he got to his feet, both pairs of claws sharpened threateningly.

"Really? Because I have a quarel with you, halfling." she told him, knowing the term halfling, rather derogatory, would get to the half human, half shifter. "You're after MY prey."

He swipped at her with his claws.

She ducked and swiped at him with her claws.

They didn't even damage his armored suite, she saw.

"He is mine!" he declared vehemently as Miss America, finally catching up, ran past them, gaping.

"I saw him first, kitty cat!" she said, drawing her sword.

"He killed my father." he told her.

"My condolences." she said and slashed at him with her sword, but his armor was impenatrable, even to it.

If only she'd had the foresight to bring Odin's sword. It could cut through anything.

Damn Nix. She could have told her to pack it.

Nix the Ever-Knowing was the oldest Valkyrie and a soothsayer. She was also bat shit crazy because of it.

Everything has a price, Kiana knew.

She had learned that lesson long ago.

But she tamped down those old memories that threatened to surface and focused on the here and now.

Suddenly, her ear twitched and there was the sound of sirens.

They both looked at each other and were then running towards the sound.

"Mortals!" she hissed as she slowed down and drew near the crowd of armed men, lights flashing.

Their guns were drawn on one man.

Her prey.

Kiana sheathed her sword and casually strolled to one of the taxis that had stopped because of the disturbance and opened the back door, glancing at the scene as if only mildly interested.

The only thing she didn't do was whistle.

Sensing the shifter's gaze, she gave him a look that deserved, knowing he wouldn't reveal her presence here. No faction of the Lore would risk such open exposure of it to humans, let alone incur the wrath of the Valkyrie, one of the most feared factions of said Lore.

Humans, especially in numbers, were more dangerous to the Lore than anything and they all did their best not to draw their attention. Sure, some slipped up or were just plain stupid, which is where fairy tales and myths sprang from, but to do so invited trouble.

And Valkyrie never borrowed trouble.

She glanced at her prey.

And found him watching her.

His expression didn't reveal much but his eyes said he knew when he was finally beat and that he wished that she HAD killed him.

A rage of sympathy boiled in her heart, which was suddenly aching.

She had been beaten once.

She never wanted to go there again.

With grim determination, she tamped her memories and any sympathy she had down. She hadn't gotten this far by showing her sympathetic side and, though she might be tender hearted with those who were too helpless to help themselves, she never was towards her prey, who were usually blood sucking leeches. Or vampires. Whichever you called them.

She had been sent on this mission to kill him.

And that was exactly what she was going to do, she thought as she broke eye contact with him and slid into the car.

"Where to?" the driver asked in his language.

"When this clears out, just drive. I'll tell you in a minute." she answered in the same language as she watched the police push her target down to the ground.

"This man is the one they have been after." the driver said as she whipped out her cell and dialed.

"Yeah, looks like they caught him." she answered. FOR NOW, her inner voice whispered.

The line rang and, after a few more rings, a voice picked up, "This is Nixie's line. She's out right now building a temple for the future Goddess of Accessions. For foretellings, press one. For future plays in sports, press two. If you're attempting to stop an apocalypse, press three. Bertil, please hold still for mommy! She's on the phone. After the beep! Happy Accession!"

Kiana rolled her eyes as there was a beep, but then never removed them from her prey until they led him away and into a van where he disappeared.

"Nix, it's Kiana. I need to know where they're taking the..." then with a glance at the driver who was undoubtedly listening, "package we talked about. Call me back ASAP." and hung up.

"Follow those police cars." she then told the driver.

He turned to her with raised eyebrow.

"I'm a reporter." she lied.

He looked her up and down pointedly.

What? With the way she was dressed, not to mention her sword, she didn't look like a reporter?

"Who do you work for?" he asked, doubtfully.

She gave him a look.

"The Lore." she answered.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ireland

53 B.C.E.

Water dripped, dripped, dripped. The only other sound in the darkness were the sounds of rats scurrying about.

From her position on the ground in the cell, Kiana looked up.

She sensed them.

They had come for her.

Her sisters.

The Valkyrie.

It had been two-hundred days. Two hundred days since she and her mother had left Valhalla, the god plane where her two other parents lived. So far away now.

And Kiana only eleven.

She should have never followed her mother, she now knew.

She had to return, her mother had said, to reclaim her throne as the rightful queen of Ireland. But things had not gone according to plan. Her cousin Rolf, who had claimed the throne for himself, had killed her mother and locked Kiana away to be brought out and shown off like some strange creature.

Which she was.

Since Kiana wasn't yet frozen into her immortality and still dependent on food, he had starved her, only allowing her enough food that she didn't perish completely. And kept her here in this cell.

Therefore, she was weak and listless, pale and gaunt.

Her only friend had been a bird who came to visit her every day named Onyx, a raven.

One of Odin's, she knew.

The black bird cawed at her now.

"Yes." she said, her voice rough from disuse. "I know they are here."

There were the sounds of a scuffle outside, then the door creaked opened.

A gorgeous, petite woman with long dark hair and amber eyes, accompanied by an equally stunning woman with strange violet eyes entered the dank, cramped cell.

The dark one tilted her head at her.

"This is no way to treat a Valkyrie." she said. "I am glad I killed them."

Then introduced them both. "I am Nix, child. This is Cara. We are your sisters." and held out a hand to help her up.

Kiana looked at them.

They looked just like her, with their pointy ears, claws, and slight fangs. They were her. Her kindred.

She took the hand.

Kiana woke with a start and sat up, gasping. A sheen of cold sweat covered her body and she looked around her frantically.

She was in a bed, the sheets tangled around her legs. On the Accord's, which was basically a term for the collective Valkyrie covens on Earth, private jet, richly appointed in accordance with Valkyrie sensabilities, she now remembered.

Lightning rocked the jet and a voice, male, was yelling at her. She told him in a gasping voice at his enquiry if she was ok, "I'm fine. I'm fine.", and almost believed it.

"Just a bad dream." she added over the thunder.

He said something comforting, no doubt something he would have told one of his ten children, she realized in her fuddled state, and was gone, leaving her to herself, as always.

She was safe. No longer in that dark, dank cell that no one, especially a child, should be in.

Still shaking, she threw the sheets off and went to the bathroom. She splashed water on her face and then, after drying it off, looked in the mirror. Her eyes flashed from silver back to green until finally, in concert with her breaths slowing down, stayed green.

"You are safe." she said out loud to the creature in the mirror. "Safe." until the creature believed.

Once she had mostly calmed down, although never completely for a few days after such a dream, she walked out of the bathroom and, without really knowing what she was doing, went to one of the windows and stared out.

The sun was shining and the clouds looked like puffy cotton balls, part of her realized.

This did little to soothe her.

Her sisters had taken her that day, kept her safe and taught her how to fight, how to hunt vampires and other assorted baddies. Then, when she had mastered this and had frozen into her immortality, she had returned to Ireland.

The last face her cousin, Rolf, had seen had been hers.

She had then, being the last direct heir, ruled Ireland as Queen for a while.

An immortal queen with strength and power.

The people, Celts, tried to forget that once she had been a freak-show, a creature to be gawked at. Instead, though they didn't know exactly WHAT she was, they worshipped her like a goddess. Even calling her one.

She, who definitely hadn't forgotten her ill treatment, let them treat her as a goddess and demanded of them accordingly.

Then, one day, something changed.

Kiana preferred to walk alone, roaming the countryside and observing her subjects, even breaking up fights, to her guards chagrin, especially since she usually ordered them not to follow, which they summarily ignored. She didn't really, as a Valkyrie, need them around, after all.

As she had drawn near a village, a girl, small, perhaps three winters, approached, fingers in her mouth.

Kiana had knelt down to her, giving her a greeting.

The little girl had reached up and, touching one of Kiana's curls, had said, "Swan Maiden."

Kiana's heart, which she had thought had turned to ice the day her mother had been killed, just...melted.

"Yes." she had answered. "Yes, I am."

And at that moment, she had realized something. She didn't want to be here ruling a people who thought she was and treated her like a deity. First of all, she wasn't. Second, she wanted to hunt again, loved to kill leeches and rid the world of evil. She wanted to be what she was born to be. And that, as the girl had said, was a swan maiden. Shield maiden. Valkyrie.

So, that's what she did.

Years later, when the girl was old enough, Kiana had made her queen in her place. A strong queen who was fair and just.

Kiana had walked away the same day.

And, though she had loved the girl just as much as she had loved her mother, she had learned something on Ireland: Everything has a price. And love demanded the highest price of all.

How she envied those who seemed unafraid to love, unafraid to pay the price.

They were braver than she was.

So what was she doing gazing out the window as if she...longed?

Just then there was a ding and the demon who was piloting the airplane his voice came over the intercom, "We're approaching the airport now."

Kiana pressed the button for the intercom.

"Got it. Buckling in now." She told him before sitting down and doing just that.

Since Valkyrie were immortal creatures, they could survive most anything and an airplane's controlled, gentle landing was definitely up there, but if something went sideways, it could still hurt like hell. Best to avoid that.

As she waited, she focused her mind on the task ahead.

Damn Nix, she suddenly thought. She had probably seen this whole ordeal. And hadn't said a word about it being so difficult.

If only she had just killed him when she had the chance.

"Admit it. You can't kill him." said her damn inner voice.

"Shut it!" she muttered. "I so can."

She was going to find him and end him.

End of story.

But why did the thought of looking into those blue eyes, so descent and kind and haunted, make her all gooey inside?

"Gooey?" she asked the empty room. "I am not a ghoul!"

"What was that, Kiana?" came the pilot's voice over the intercom.

Kiana rolled her eyes.

Of course he would hear THAT!

"Nothing, Ferron." she told him. "Just thinking about ...something. Have we landed?"

"Yeah. Just did." came his answer.

She thanked him and told him he could leave.

She then went to shower and change.

She had a job to do.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kiana stood on a hill overlooking a compound that looked lot like a vamped up warehouse, which it probably was.

Her prey was in there, she knew.

Though this wasn't actually confirmed (cause Nix wouldn't pick up her damn phone! She was going to kill her!), since this was Avengers secret hideout fortress, it was a safe bet he was in there.

And probably a whole lot of creatures, not to mention humans, that wouldn't mind killing her at worst or capturing her at best.

"Good luck with that, bitches!", she thought and strolled casually up to the fence and the guard there.

"Excuse me."she said in her best syrupy sweet voice and striking a pose. He looked her up and down like he had never seen a woman like her ( Which he most likely hadn't) as she asked, "Can you help me find my orgasm?"

Before he could blink, she punched him in the throat.

The next second, she leapt over the fence, landing effortlessly on the other side.

"Didn't think so." She muttered, hearing him sputtering on the other side.

And that's when the alarms went off.

She took off across the lawn at blinding speed.

She was halfway to the building when then her ear twitched and something flew at her. She ducked and swiped at the large winged thing with her claws, taking out one of the holsters around his torso. As he hit the ground, she recognized him as the guy who had been with Miss America yesterday.

Seeing that this mortal was bleeding sufficiently not to be much of a threat, not that he would be, anyway, she grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, ignoring his groans of pain.

"Where is he, tweety bird?" she demanded, claws flared near his throat.

"You again?" he gasped, clutching his side where she had grazed him. "How did you?" but got a weird look on his face before saying, "He's escaping?" and touching his earpiece.

Kiana didn't waste any time and, giving him a hiss for good measure, sprinted the rest of the way toward the building.

The guards there received a good head bashing for trying to stop her, as did everyone else who got in her way.

But, it was too late, she found out.

He was already gone.

After reeking a lot of destruction.

Kiana was confused by this, but didn't have much time to wonder why the man she had met, who hadn't seemed cruel or violent, seemed to have suddenly snapped. This tendency could explain why she had been sent to kill him, though.

The mortals weren't much help in her hunt, though. All they could tell her as that he almost killed a bunch of people before taking off in a helicopter.

Without his backpack.

Holding a fairly important-looking mortal up by his throat, she asked for what seemed like the hundreth time, "Where's the backpack?"

"What backpack?" he choked out.

She turned and gave a warning hiss at the red head trying to sneak up behind her before saying, "The mortal who just escaped. He had a backpack. Where is it?"

The mortal woman behind her foolishly tried to kick her and Kiana swiped at her with her claws.

Wide eyed, the woman looked at the claw marks on her leg, then back at Kiana.

That was when Kiana noticed the hand marks around the mortal woman's throat and dropped the male. Wit a shriek, she tackled the mortal female, instead, taking her to the ground before she could even blink.

"You tangled with my prey." she observed as she held her sword at the woman's throat. "Tell me where the backpack is."

"Why do you want to know?" the mortal dared ask.

Kiana tilted her head at her as a predator would it's prey.

This one would have made a good Valkyrie, she thought.

"I'm a hunter who's after her prey. Tell me and you get to live, black widow woman."

So she did.

Scanning the shelves of items in the 'storage room', or where these mortals kept the pilfered items of their enemies, unguarded (Stupid mortals! Was that Loki's staff? Wait, is that the missing armband that made it's wearer feel overwhelming sexual desire? Best take it, too. After all, Valkyrie not only protected humans other good Loreans from vampires and other baddies, they also protected amulets and other powerful artifacts, too.), she finally spotted what she was looking for.

Her prey's backpack.

Stuffing the bracelet in her boot (No way was she puting it on. She was already having enough trouble in that area as it was.), she grabbed the backpack and set it on a table.

Unzipping it, she looked inside. She had been expecting to find what anyone would normally find in a bug-out bag; water, food, a map with a big X on it giving directions to their destination. Instead, she was surprised to find reams & reams of notebooks, filled with the bold, slightly off kilter, but confident penmanship of a male.

Just then, though, her ear twitched and, looking up, she spotted armored, heavily weaponed mortals coming down the hallway. Right towards her.

She hastily strapped on the backpack and buckled it in front to secure it.

Grabbing her sword and a hoodie she found, she donned it and exited the room, pulling the hood up, looking like any other mortal milling about. Or, so she hoped.

She could easily take them, she knew. But why engage them, waisting time, when she had gotten what she had come for.

Or, almost.

Hopefully, these notebooks would give her some clue where her prey had disappeared to.

And there was only one place to go when you wanted to catch up on your reading.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Hoody still up, Kiana entered the library that she had googled directions to and, waisting no time, found a cushy seat in a back corner and made herself comfortable.

Glancing around to make sure no one was looking, she stowed her sword under the seat, unclipped the backpack, and opened it. Removing the notebooks, it took her a moment to figure out which one to start with, but she finally did.

She opened a pink covered notebook and turned to the first page.

It began, "My name is Bucky. James Buchanan Barnes is my full name. I was born March 10, 1917. My best friend is Steve. Steve Rogers. My first memory is of me and Steve playing together. It was in a park in our neighborhood of Brooklyn. I don't remember much about that day. All I remember was the sun was shining and we were instant friends."

Kiana glanced up, not really seeing what she was looking at. Why would he write this down?, she wondered. Things like his name, his full name and date of birth? These were things one just always knew. Or should, a part of her whispered. Looking back at the notebook, she soon found answers to her questions.

She continued to read, finding out more and more about a boy who had seemed to have a good home, good family and a loyal best friend. Then, as she feared, life had bitten him in the ass. He fell into the hands of the enemy and, not able, perhaps because of the trauma, didn't remember who he was. Worse, they had continued to wipe his memories and in torturous ways. Not only that, but they had kept him in cryo, only bringing him out when they needed him to kill. Added to this, they had programed his brain to respond to certain words that triggered a killing mode, as it were.

These HYDRA folks were sick, she thought, as the hours ticked by, the sun sinking in the horizon.

But, he never forgot those he killed. Not one of them.

"Excuse me." said a petite librarian who oddly resembled Kiana in looks and coloring. "We're closing in five minutes."

"Thank you." Kiana told her, stuffing the notebooks back in the bag, vaguely aware of what she was doing.

He was afraid he would forget, she realized as she exited the library. Or that they would find him and make him forget, she corrected herself. It had happened before. He had escaped for a while, but they had found him. And that's when the mind wipes began. That's why he had written all his memories down and fled with only these notebooks in his backpack. He never wanted to forget Steve or his past again. Forget himself again. The man he had been or the man, the complex, wonderful man, a man who was loyal and strong and a hella good friend, no to mention brave and confident with a incorruptible heart of gold and was eaten up with guilt over what he had been forced to do, that he was now.

Either way, the man she was going to kill.

Bucky ran across the tarmac, increasing his speed as he went.

He was headed straight towards T'Challa, who had been after him for days. Between him, the police, and the slightly strange but unbelievably beautiful woman who had been after him, he now knew what it was like to be the hunted. He didn't particularly like it, though he definitely, after everything he had done, forced on him or not, the people he had killed, still ate at him inside.

Why didn't she just kill him?, he thought, thinking of the green-eyed fey creature that he hadn't seen in a few days. Then again, if she hadn't, he would 't be here now, helping his friend, Steve. Even though he didn't deserve another chance with his friend, his friend who was so good.

Just then, he reached the black panther.

They both snatched each other by the throat.

"You are still alive." The black cat said.

Bucky was as surprised as the other man sounded.

"Shouldn't I be?"

"A Valkyrie is hunting you. Most do not know this until it is too late." he answered.

"What else do you know about her?" Bucky surprised himself by asking.

T'Challa seemed surprised, too.

A lot of that happening today.

"Nothing much. Other than they are born of lightning, not to mention, give it off with strong emotion, are very strong and smart and are one of the strongest factions in the Lore."

"The Lore?" Bucky asked.

"I have said too much. But, I don't think you'll survive long enough to find out anything else from me."

"I didn't kill your father." he told the black creature.

"Then why did you run?" he asked him.

And that's when things got really hairy.

Two days later

Bucky watched Steve walk away.

It had been two days since the altercation at the airport in Germany. They were both criminals now, not just him, he realized. Steve had risked everything for him, just as he would have done all those years ago.

Now, on top of that, Steve was no longer Captain America.

And Bucky, himself, no longer had his metal arm.

And Bucky knew something else: He was too broken, too damaged a human being to be of this world. He didn't deserve it and it was best if he went back into cryo. There was a reason the HYDRA people had kept him there when they didn't need him: he was a monster that needed to be caged.

He closed his eyes as the cold engulfed him and he was falling into himself.

Suddenly, there were eyes in the blackness. Amber eyes that stared at him.

And he knew. The same eyes that belonged to the woman who had given him the diamond.

"Here there be monsters." she said in a distant, echoing voice.

Then another image appeared and he was seeing a battle, long long ago, he realized.

A woman, small, with red hair and wearing a metal breast plate, was battling a horde of what looked like a large Viking raiding party.

Fiercely, despite battling a Viking twice her size, she slashed at him with her sword. He retaliated by slicing her neck and, as she clutched her throat, blood pouring from it, the Viking brute...laughed.

She knew death was imminent, he saw it in her face as a young man ran towards her.

"My Queen!" he said, but it was too late.

Just as Bucky thought she would breath her last, a sight he had seen too many times and by his own hand, there was a blinding flash of lightning which took out the Viking raiding party, sparing the defenders.

Suddenly, the small red head was in an oppulent hall, a palace really, but one that was rustic in a Norse way, perhaps. The sun was shining and shone on her and the baby she held as a couple, wearing rich but rather ancient garb, stood behind, gazing down at the baby. One with red hair and green eyes. And pointed ears.

"Another daughter, Odin." the woman standing sighed in happiness. "Another Valkyrie."

"Yes, my Freya." he answered.

The image changed yet again. This time, the red haired woman looked to be ready to go through a swirling vortex. A portal, he somehow knew.

"Mother, you can't go." he seemed to say.

But it wasn't him, he realized, but whoever's eyes he was seeing this through.

"I must. Rolf has stolen my throne and I must get it back." the woman answered and, though they were speaking an ancient language, he somehow understood them perfectly.

"I am going with you." Said whoever he was.

"No!" the woman said vehemently. "You are too young. Only eleven. You must stay here until you freeze into your immortality, darling."

Then her eyes had softened. "I love you very much. I will find you."

And hugged him? Her? It?

Then, with one last look, had stepped through the portal and disappeared.

He felt the person whose memory this was, their indecision and longing to follow. Then they huffed, grabbed a sword from the wall, the same sword forged and shaped by their father, Oden, he knew, and stepped to the portal.

"Kiana, no!" came a cry.

This Kiana, he now knew, spun around to see the same couple who had been gazing at the baby.

"I must, Mother, Father."

"If you step through that portal, you can never return." the bearded man he knew as the god, Oden, said.

"I know, Father." she nodded.

He looked at her as if he knew that this was what she needed to do and gave his permission as the woman, his wife, Freya, turned into her husband's shoulder and started to weep.

"Goodbye." Kiana said and turned and stepped through the portal.

The scene changed again.

This time, Kiana was climbing a hill and, cresting it, beheld a castle stronghold.

Mother was in there, Kiana knew, growing excited to see her again. And now, undoubtedly Queen. After much travel by foot, she had finally reached this place. She was exhausted and hungry and only had her sword, one that looked familiar to him, he realized.

Head held high, she marched up to the armored, but stinky guards at the gate as people milled past her.

"I am here to see the queen." she anounced.

At this, they guffawed loudly.

"You're welcome to see her." they told her, pointing.

She turned towards the direction they pointed and gasped at what she saw before sprinting towards the stand set up in the middle of the courtyard. People stood around it, heads turned toward it.

"Mother!" She screamed.

But it was too late.

Her mother, her kind, brave mother, looked up just as the axe fell, her gaze frightened for Kiana, she knew.

The axe met it's mark, severing her mother's head from her shoulders.

Kiana watched in horror and disbelief as it rolled across the wooden stand. Time stood still and fractured. Or, maybe it was her heart that fractured.

Someone yelled something and she snapped out of her daze.

She then leaped up onto the stage and the anvel there and, drawing her sword, swung it at the head of the giant man who had just taken the head of head of her mother, taking it clean off.

But, before she could do any more, the guards seized her by the arms while she struggled and hissed.

"What is this?" asked a voice.

Everyone froze and turned towards the voice.

High up in the castle was a balcony with seats and draped with velvet. And standing on it was a man. A man with red hair and green eyes.

Rolf, she knew with a hiss.

"Who are you, child?" he asked.

"Kiana, the Queen's daughter." she answered truthfully, head held high.

He smirked.

"There is no queen." he announced. "Or her heir. Only me, your King. That woman was an imposter."

"You lie!" she yelled

He laughed, waving at the guards.

"Monsters are real." she had thought as she was dragged away, glaring at Rolf. "And look just like real people."

He saw them lock her away in a damp, dark dungeon, saw them take her out to laugh at her or beat her. He saw the day her sisters had come for her.

"Come, child." the dark one had said, leading her from the dungeon. "We have many to kill and make merry with, both at the same time."

The scene had changed yet again.

She was again at the castle, he saw, slicing her way in with ruthless efficiency and kicking down doors.

She reached the throne room where she found an older Rolf, trying to look arrogant and assured instead of terrified and sweating.

"Cousin." she said casually in greeting as she proceeded to give a glare at his armored guards.

"Who's next?" she asked them, raising her sword at the twelve men.

They fled in terror.

"Kiana." her cousin answered, swallowing. "I'll give you the throne. It's yours. Please don't kill me."

"Rolf, Rolf." she chided in a sugary voice as she strode casually up to him. "I don't want your throne."

A look of relief passsed over his face and he flushed.

"You don't?" he asked.

"Why, no." she told him sweetly.

"I want your head." she added, her voice turning angry and hard as lightning, her lightning, he somehow knew, lit the sky outside the windows.

His eyes widened and thunder rolled just before her sword came up and his head rolled across the throne room floor.

But she had become queen, he saw as the scene changed and she was crowned, waited upon, reverred, and sat on the throne.

The scene changed again, though.

She was passing a village and a girl with blonde hair approached her.

Kiana stopped and stooped down to the small child, saying a greeting.

"Swan maiden." the little girl had said, reaching out to touch a soft curl of Kiana's hair.

"Yes. Yes, I am." she answered, realizing something.

Again, the scene changed and she was once again at the castle, bursting with pride as a blond girl, the same blond girl all grown up, he somehow knew, ducked her head to recieve the crown from Kiana's own hand and stood up to aplause, the new queen.

Later that day, taking nothing with her but her sword, which she had brought, Kiana had left, never to return.

Then there were flashes of her battling and killing fanged, towering red eyed creatures.

Vampires, he realized.

Then she was battling trolls, a new scene where she was fighting a horned, towering creature, an evil god, he knew, then a dragon, and other creatures he couldn't even name, her sword always dripping with their blood.

Creatures from myth.

Or, were they? He wondered as the dress become more modern.

Then he saw her as if she woke from a bad dream, lightning firing all around the richly appointed airplane. She said something and, still shaken, stumbled to the bathroom. He heard her as she kept telling herself she was safe as she stood in front of the mirror.

He would finally know what she looked like, he realized, heart speeding up.

This brave creature who had given up so much, he knew, first to follow her mother, then, to try to save her, even though still a child. Then, killing the man who had killed her mother. Not only that, but giving up a powerful position to one who saw her for what she really was so she could kill vampires, gods, trolls and other creatures (could this be the Lore the black panther had spoken of?). All to protect others.

Was there ever one so brave? He wondered.

And he somehow knew, despite her unbelievably long life (After all, who was he to question long life?) that this was the same woman.

She looked up, and, eyes flashing silver as they had the day they had met, he, to his shock, recognized her instantly.

It was the woman with the sword who came so close to killing him but, for some reason, decided not to.

The Valkyrie who was undoubtedly still trying to kill him.

As he was still processing this, the scene changed yet again.

It was of a dark room, a single light illuminating one thing; an ancient looking book on a table. 'The Living Book of Lore' the cover said. As he watched, it seemed to open and unfurl itself, pages fluttering. Till it stopped on one page.

At the top part of the page, there was a picture of this Kiana, he saw. And below it in curving script it said "Kiana the Brave, the Bravest of all Valkyrie".

All went black for a second.

Then only amber eyes peering at him in the blackness asked, "Are you brave enough? Will you awaken?"

Bucky's eyes opened, bluer than blue.

Kiana waited for the line to pick up, pacing frantically.

It had been three days and she still hadn't been able to get ahold of Nix. Three days of cooling her heels. Nothing else to do as she waited, she had read the notebooks. And read them again, her heart softening even further every time.

She glanced at the backpack sitting on the expensively upholstered chair in the equally expensive hotel suite she had purchased, as if it was all it's fault.

She sighed.

It was her own fault for reading those damn notebooks. Curiosity killed the cat and all that.

Finally, the voice she had been waiting all day to hear came over the phone, "You've reached the Nixinator." she said cheerily.

"Nix, finally!" she said.

"Kiana!" the soothsayer said gleefully, as if she didn't already know who it was. "Taken care of business?"

"You probably already know the answer to that one." Kiana admitted grouchily. "And why didn't you answer your phone?"

"Busy!" she said gleefully. "But the temple is on its way."

"That's great, Nix, but I have another issue. This.." guy didn't sound right and man might give too much away. So she went with, "Mortal. You are sure about him? I mean, he's so..."

"Good?" Nix supplied.

"Yes." Kiana said both to herself and Nix. That's exactly what it was. Underneath, he was so unbelievably, wonderfully good.

"I am not mistaken about him. You must go after him." Nix was saying. "Now, must go. The marble columns are here."

"But, Nix, where can I find him?" Kiana asked before the other woman could hang up.

Nix gave her directions.

"Oh, before I forget, don't wake the kitty." the soothsayer added.

"What kitty?" Kiana asked.

But was talking to the dial tone.

Later that day, Kiana slogged through the jungle, whacking limbs out of the way with her sword.

She stopped and checked the G.P.S. on her phone. Yes, she was headed the right way.

Wherever Bucky was, it was a damn hard place to find, she thought as she sliced through another limb, marching determinedly ahead. It had only taken a soothsayer, the most powerful witch in the House of Witches to give her a password script that was basically a key to get throough the mojo shit they had to protect this place, and GPS to even get a bead on where he was.

And since when had she started calling him Bucky instead of the prey? Damn notebooks. And why did she even bring the stupid things, anyway, she thought, the backpack full of them even now strapped to her back, the harness secured in the front. It wasn't like she was here to give them back to him or anything. "Liar! Liar" her inner voice chanted and she gritted her teeth. "I am so not!" she told it.

Well, notebooks or not, sad blue eyes or not, nice ass or not, he was soon to be dead dead dead. She was going to see to it.

She hoped.

And what was Nix's last cryptic message about? Don't wake the cat? Seriously, this jungle must be teaming with cats, the large kind, for sure. How was she supposed to know which one NOT to wake up?

Suddenly, the jungle thinned out and she was standing on a ledge overlooking a river-filled valley.

A building, no doubt where she would find Bucky, was on the other side. And not far from it was a statue of a giant black panther.

"Pussycat! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" she breathed.

And it was standing between her and her prey.


End file.
